Hey there, Emuls-a-clones, my latest post for the official Shaw Brothers site went up on Monday! I revised my review of the 1975 Shaw-distributed Bruceploitation film The New Game of Death, starring Bruce Li (Ho Tsung-Tao)! Check it out here and enjoy!

And if you’re looking to watch The New Game of Death, you’re in for a bit of a challenge. It is on Region 3 DVD, available from DDDHouse, YesAsia, or eBay. Digitally, Celestial hasn’t released it to US iTunes yet, but it is available in other territories (such as Hong Kong) so click the link and maybe it’ll work for you!

Technically speaking, The New Game of Death isn’t a Shaw Brothers movie, and it really shouldn’t be a part of my review series. The Shaw Brothers picked up various films for distribution on occasion, so this is probably what happened with The New Game of Death, although I can’t find any real info to support that. In any case, it was the only film produced by the Yu-Yun Film Co., somewhere along the line Shaw Brothers got the rights to the film, and then when Celestial Pictures remastered the Shaw catalog and released them on Region 3 DVDs they gave The New Game of Death the same treatment. Given this circumstantial chance to check out an early Bruceploitation film in its raw, original form — it was edited and released in the US as Goodbye Bruce Lee: His Last Game of Death — I just had to take it.

The New Game of Death opens with Bruce Li playing himself (I think), picnicking with his fiance and practicing martial arts. A film producer approaches him and asks him to help complete Bruce Lee’s unfinished film The Game of Death. Bruce Li doesn’t know if he should do it because it’ll postpone his marriage, but of course he accepts, and it doesn’t matter anyway because once the movie-within-a-movie starts, we never go back to this frame story. Once he agrees, the producer sits him down to screen the film they have so far… which oddly stars Bruce Li instead of Bruce Lee, and is apparently complete! Logic has never been Bruceploitation’s strong suit. 🙂